Dataset

Modern UK Aerial Photography

Abstract

Aerial photography obtained from The Geoinformation Group's (TGG) Cities Revealed project, acquired by the Landmap project, is available for over 65% of the UK's population, from 1969 to 2010. The imagery has a high resolution of 5-25cm. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded Landmap service which ran from 2001 to July 2014 collected and hosted a large amount of earth observation data for the majority of the UK. After removal of JISC funding in 2013, the Landmap service is no longer operational, with the data now held at the NEODC.

Data collected and prepared by the Landmap team before a copy of the data were obtained by NEODC directly from Landmap.

File Format:

Data are available in ecw (Enhanced Compression Wavelet) and MrSID (Multiresolution Seamless Image Database) formats which can both be opened with most image viewing/editing or GIS software such as such as Erdas ER viewer. Both formats are ultimately compressed images however the MrSID (Multiresolution Seamless Image Database) format (.sid extension) allows large compressed raster image files (such as aerial photographs or satellite imagery) to be quickly viewed without having to decompress the entire file. The data are archived in the directory structure of country/region_year/format/data for ease of use. Metadata containing location and other information (.ers, .sdw and .xml files) are included with their respective data files.

More Information (under review)

Introduction

Aerial photography obtained from The Geoinformation Group's (TGG) Cities Revealed project, acquired by the Landmap project, is available for over 65% of the UK's population, from 1969 to 2010. The imagery has a high resolution of 5-25cm.

The modern aerial photography is available to UK academics and students. To apply for access, please

1) Register as a CEDA user. If you already are a CEDA (or NEODC or BADC) registered user, skip this step. If you have forgotten your CEDA user ID and/or password, please contact the helpdesk at support@ceda.ac.uk.

Data are available in ecw (Enhanced Compression Wavelet) and MrSID (Multiresolution Seamless Image Database) formats which can both be opened with most image viewing/editing or GIS software such as such as Erdas ER viewer. Both formats are ultimately compressed images however the MrSID (Multiresolution Seamless Image Database) format (.sid extension) allows large compressed raster image files (such as aerial photographs or satellite imagery) to be quickly viewed without having to decompress the entire file. The data are archived in the directory structure of country/region_year/format/data for ease of use. Metadata containing location and other information (.ers, .sdw and .xml files) are included with their respective data files.

Documentation and Links to further information and references

Software

Erdas ER viewer, available free of charge, can be used to open raster image formats such as TIFF, GeoTiff, IMG, ECW, ERS, ALG, DAT and many more, and is capable of handling large file sizes.

Documentation

The GeoInformation Group Cities Revealed modern aerial photography product sheet

Links to further information

The Landmap project modern aerial photography website - this site may be offline after 1st August 2014 due to a withdrawal of JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funding, see below for an archived version of the site

If you have queries about these pages or about obtaining the modern aerial photography from the NEODC then you should contact the NEODC Support team. Your query should be answered within one working day. When follow-up work is required, the NEODC support will carry out the work as quickly and efficiently as possible.